A broadband network system, e.g., Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) system, cable system, provides subscribers with many benefits, including greater bandwidth, more efficient use of bandwidth and the ability to integrate voice, data and video communications.
A broadband network system may comprise a host machine, e.g., server computer on the Internet commonly referred to as web server, connected to one or more computers commonly referred to as clients via the Internet. The Internet may refer to a network of computers. Users of clients, commonly referred to as subscribers, may be connected to the Internet through an Internet gateway, e.g., Internet Service Provider (ISP). An Internet gateway may provide access to the Internet for a monthly fee. Typically, a subscriber accesses the Internet through the Internet gateway by logging onto the network of the Internet gateway using an identifier, e.g., jdoe, and a secret password. Once a connection is established between the Internet gateway and the subscriber, the subscriber may access the Internet and “browse”, i.e., navigate around, the World Wide Web (“WWW”) by utilizing a suitable web browser, e.g., Netscape™, Internet Explorer™. A web browser allows the subscriber to specify or search for a web page on the WWW and subsequently retrieve and display web pages on the subscriber's computer screen.
Unfortunately, the connection between an Internet gateway and a subscriber may be disconnected due a time-out or an error. Generally, there is no warning to the subscriber other than an unidentified lost connection to the Internet gateway. In a shared network environment where a plurality of subscribers are connected to an Internet gateway through a router, e.g., Network Address Translation (NAT) router, the loss of connectivity to an Internet gateway results in the loss of service to all subscribers connected to the router. The connection to the Internet gateway remains lost until a new connection to the Internet gateway is manually made which may result in subscribers being unconnected to the Internet for hours. Typically, a new connection to the Internet gateway is manually made by re-logging onto the network of the Internet gateway at the router.
It would therefore be desirable to restore lost connectivity to an Internet gateway automatically instead of manually re-logging onto the network of the Internet gateway thereby diminishing the amount of time a subscriber is unconnected to the Internet.